Summer Auction, held on 19th June 2025

The summer auction took place with around 20 people attending.
‘Sales were £380.50 = £38.05 to the Club in commission, plus £2.00 sales for club funds. Add to that £27.00 for the raffle and total proceeds were £67.05.’

Some very interesting lots including albums of photographs of buses dating back the the 1950s from Western National, London Transport, etc. Even my home town!

(Rick Wilmot)

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Report on "Booklets, prestige booklets, panes, coil stamps, etc."
Members Displays, held on 5th June 2025

Report on the Club's AGM, held on 15th May 2025

(Wendy Buckle)

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Members: Day of the Stamp, World Stamp Day, etc
1st May 2025

World Post Day is an international day that occurs each year on October 9, the anniversary of the Universal Postal Union (UPU), which started in 1874 in Switzerland. Great Britain recognises the Day of the Stamp.

Mike Goodman began with a selection of USA material.
Michael Mawdsley with GB, Australia and Canada.
Ken Parrott with GB packs and others looking at reproductions of 1d Blacks, and an air letter featuring Rowland Hill.
Mike Houchen showed lighthouses on modern stamps and sheets from Russia, Ukraine, Arctic and Black Sea areas.
Tony Arnold showed a mixture of Cinderella labels predominantly a series of Chocolate labels with captions in Esperanto.
Wendy Buckle showed some designs of the first Victorian stamps, 1d black, 1d red and 2d blue.
Finally, Mark Evans showed some stamps with overprints on post Soviet Russian stamps. Abkhazian stamps plus an interesting document with this report.

1947 USA Stamp Centenary	1940 GB Centenary	1d black replica

Lighthouse overprints on 1992 Russia stamps	Wyon City Medal

About Abkhazia	Netherland Day of the Stamp

(Rick Wilmot)

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Guest: Paul Latham-Warde - "and I still don't know what to collect"
17th April 2025

Tonight, we welcomed Mr. Paul Latham-Warde to display and talk about his topic

Apart from philatelic material, Paul brought miscellaneous objects and ornaments relating to one of the 12 of his collecting topics. These included postal weighing scales that had been used over the decades, a sealed pack of playing cards, cigar boxes etc. etc.
He went on to the main sheets on the boards with displays of GB Unemployment Revenue stamps, Telephone Slogan cancellations,
15 sheets on collecting stamps depicting Barbed Wire together with a catalogue for collectors.
Another board had several sheets of ‘Cut torn or damaged whilst being used’.
There were Indian half-stamps and revenue stamps, Italian parcel cards, tax stamps on cinema tickets etc.
A very nice display of the 1897 Canada series on covers.
Indian stamps overprinted in aid of refugees from Pakistan due to the patrician in 1947.

Following a break which allowed members to get their heads around what they had seen, the second half began with postcards of cars, vans, art and glamour. Paul gave a brief history of the 2CV.
Following that there was a frame of 1930s Ireland, lottery tickets, publicity labels for horse races. The Irish Hospitals' Sweepstake was a lottery established in the Irish Free State in 1930 as the Irish Free State Hospitals' Sweepstake to finance hospitals. Many of these were illegally sent through the post.
‘Protest’ was another topic which took another frame. This included the anti-Corn Law protest, suffragettes and even a map of London Underground because some people protested at the lack of the Thames on the map.
Next there was a display of helicopters, mainly American material, with historical notes.
The Poor was also a topic. Parish Settlement run by the church, lots of letters and others relating to the 1834 Poor Law. That was an amended Poor Law ensuring that the poor were housed in workhouses, clothed and fed.
Finally, a frame of Stamp Fairs and the 23 stamps designed by Andrew Restall who worked for the British Post Office 1964 – 1983.

The evening ended with a certificate presented to Mr. Latham-Warde with many thanks for a fascinating evening.

Letter scales	Unemployment Insurance stamps (specimens)	Telephone slogan

Barbed wire, German stamp	Barbed wire catalogue	Irish lottery tickets

Susan B. Anthony, American suffragette	"Campaingn for Poor" badge	Paul Latham-Warde with vice-chairman Tony Arnold

(Rick Wilmot)

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Second Competition evening and Awards
3rd April 2025

17 members were at the meeting. Unfortunately, five exhibitors were absent due to a variety of reasons. However, seven of those who took part in the club competition were present and able to show their competition entries to the members.  The pictures show the flavour of the meeting and those who took part in the competition.

Bill Pipe: British & Colonial Hospital Ship Marks of WW2	Gareth Williams: Newfoundland Transatlantic Flights in 1919, and overal winner	Ken Parrott: Malta Buses
Mike Houchen: Lighthouse of the Great Lakes	Robson Lowe postcard showing one of the covers from the Martynside attempt	Rick Wilmot: Vladimir Ilych Ulyanov, Life and Afterlife of Lenin

(Rick Wilmot)

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Members' Displays - Spring Auction

Tonight was the Spring auction. 30 people were there at the start of the sale. We had 19 vendors and 25 buyers, the best for several years. With sales to vendors of £609.50 plus £4.00 sold for club funds it was the most sales since pre-Covid. Out of 296 lots, 135 were sold. Are things looking up?

(Rick Wilmot)

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Members' Displays - "First Competition Evening"
6th March 2025

22 members turned up with 14 entries over 5 of the 6 classes (Traditional, Postal History, Thematic, Open, Postcard and Novice).
Unusually, there were 3 entries for the Novice cup. The list of winners is as follows:

Postal History - Bill Pipe
Open - Gareth Williams
Thematic - Rick Wilmot
Picture Postcards - Shirley Kemp
Novice - Ken Parrott

A further report on the competition will be sent after Competition Evening (2) in April, including details of the Judged entries.
The judge this year was Mr. Albert Jackson.

Novice: Maltese Blues	Picture Postcards: Charles Dickens' Characters

(Rick Wilmot)

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Members' Displays - "Postal Stationery"
20th February 2025

17 members attended including one new member, Mr. Gareth Williams.

The topic tonight was ‘Postal Stationery’ which can cover almost anything in the philatelic world.

Ken Parrott began the session with a nice selection of postal stationery including air letters and R. letters mainly from Malta.
Chairman David Wilkins told the meeting the he had no actual postal stationery and had never collected it; however, he had brought along some attractive Canadian advertising material.
Rick Wilmot showed postal stationery from Victorian England mainly posted to Germany, also some material from the USA, cards and covers with imprinted stamps.
Tony Arnold displayed five frames before and after the break, including a newspaper cutting showing Mr. Chris Wheeler which he asked to be sent to the web page. Other stamps on show were the work of Mr. David Gentleman, the famous designer.

After the break, Gareth Williams showed 18 pages of postal stationery from Newfoundland, a stunning collection of mint and used cards rarely seen. The material ranged from 1873 to 1933.

(Rick Wilmot)

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Guest: John Scott - "The Industrial Revolution"
6th February 2025

The speaker and presenter Mr. John Scott began with the background to his collecting interests which had culminated in a magnificent collection of letters, invoices and bills of lading. A bill of lading is a document that lists the goods being transported, the destination, the name of the shipper and consignee, and other important information. A bill of lading is used as a receipt of goods, a contract between the shipper and carrier, and a document of title.
One of the trades mentioned was the shipping of coal to Copenhagen then loading timber from any Baltic country to ship back to GB. (This reminded me of my own experience back in the late 1950s, early 1960s when I worked on ships taking coal to Copenhagen and bringing back paper pulp from Kragerø in Norway to Rochester in the Medway.)

Mr. Scott read from some letters of the time from different characters from the 19th century. Also on display were pictures of railway stations esp. Liverpool and Southampton and spoke about movement of goods and even an invoice from Robert Stephenson the Scottish civil engineer, and designer.

Mr. Scott spoke about factories during that time and the fact that smoke from chimneys indicated industrial success; and a letter from France showing examples of fabrics.

A very interesting evening, with 23 members attending.

(Rick Wilmot)

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Members Displays - "Postmarks, Cancellations, Cachets, Stickers, etc."
16th January 2025

18 members attended the meeting, 6 bringing material to show.

Ken Parrott began with a mixture of postmarks, lifeboat cancellations, Post Office Workers cachet and some Smilers sheets from Stampex.
Ken was followed by Rick Wilmot with a display of DDR postcards, all with cachets depicting anniversaries etc. His display included ships postmarks (cut outs) and a fine cover from France.
Alan King followed with an amazing display of the first stamps of France with explanations of the postmarks. Also, a selection of Tasmania stamps from the Landscape series with remarkably clear postmarks.
Tony Arnold showed what he called bits and pieces which included the set of the1937 Budapest International Fair with special postmarks.
David Wilkins was next with the German 1937 Hitler M/S with special cancellations; the 1939 Berlin Motor Show and Sweden 1955 100th Anniversary of Swedish Stamps & International Stamps Exhibition "Stockholmia '55".
After a break, Mike Goodman was the last to show with counterfeit Machins, an 1898 cover from the Spanish American war. Also, an outstanding cachet showing a Graf Zeppelin on a 2003 cover.

Post Office WorkersUnion cachet	FDC 1st voyage of the new SS"France"	Early postmark from France

One of the 1937 Hungarian set	400th anniversary of the failed invasion of England by the Spanish Armada	1939 Berlin Motor Show

RNLI cachet showing Grace Darling	Graf Zeppelin cachet	1955 Stockholmia Exhibition

(Rick Wilmot)

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"The Most Beautiful Stamp Ever", Display and Vote - 5th December 2024

16 members and 2 visitors attended. 10 members displayed what they thought were in line with the topic. Some brought just one stamp, others brought two or more.
Rick Wilmot began with his selection of two stamps which were the French Oceania 1955 Bora Bora girl, followed by a complete sheet of the Hungarian writer Margit Kaffka.
Next, Ken Parrott had chosen the £1 PUC stamp and the top values of the P. Annigoni Hong Kong stamps.
Mike Houchen showed, among others, the 1950 Birds Air stamps.
Tony Arnold had the 1993 GB £10 stamp on FDC.
Wendy Buckle showed the 2023 Czech m/s of Shakespeare acts.
A 1901 stamp from the German Empire, Kamerun, was on display by someone who prefers to remail anonymous.
Mike Mawdsley’s choice was the GB 1948 £1 Silver Wedding stamp.
Mike Goodman’s favourite was a $200 fiscal stamp from 1864.
Alan King had several pages of stamps on show, his favourite being the Hungarian Japanese Art set from 1971.
David Wilkin's favourites were 1926 Greece and stamps of the Romania Royal Family from 1907.

Everybody had a good look and discussion before the vote, which was done by a show of hands. The result was a tie for first place between Wendy's Czech sheet and Rick's Bora Bora Girl.

Annegoni

Austria, Air	German Colony, Kamerun

1993 £10 on cover	USA Fiscal

Czech, Shakespeare	Greece, 1926

French Oceana, Bora Bora Girl	Japanese Art

( Rick Wilmot)

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Winter Auction, 21st November 2024

It was a dark, cold, wet and in some places snowy night. And yet, 21 people turned out for the winter auction. Not a great deal of bidding which probably showed that collectors are becoming more selective with what they buy. £44 went into the club funds which included £19 raffle money. Well done, everybody!

(Rick Wilmot)

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Members displays, 7th November 2024
"Members' Choice"

The topic was ‘Member’s Choice’, and what a great evening which allowed members to display their favourite themes and collections. With 22 in the audience, 8 members brought displays as follow:
Mike Houghton showed us many Lightships around the UK and reaching to the river Elbe in Germany and USA Lightships. A fascinating display esp. as I have probably passed many Lightships during my seafaring days.
Tony Arnold had acquired many complete sheets of Scandinavian Charity and other Cinderella labels making a colourful display.
Ken Parrott covered two boards with Machin booklets with explanations and many details of the Machin stamps.
Rick Wilmot brought a small display of 14 sheets which were entitled ‘Idiosyncratic Philately’. There were different shapes and sizes of stamps, all valid for postage, 9 from Spain, a country very good at producing these things mainly for collectors. The others were from different parts of the world.
Part 2 began with Chairman David Wilkins showing Spanish Colonial stamps, many from Spanish Sahara which he described as ‘pretty pictures’. A nice lot.
Brian Snape showed a very colourful display of Hungarian costumes and folklore.
Alan King’s contribution was a magnificent part of his collection of French postcards. The theme of the cards was the story of name changes of streets and villages from the glory years of Philippe Pétain, French hero of WW1, to his downfall after WW2 when his name was eliminated from the streets.
Finally, Mike Goodman had brought Presidents of the United States on stamps with accompanying seals and details of each president.

Lightship at the notorious Goodwin Sands	Scandinavian Labels
Idiosyncriatic philately	Spanish Sahara
Hungarian Costumes	Machin booklet pane

French Village

POTUS

(Rick Wilmot)

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"Guests": Wendy Buckle/Brian Snape - 17th October 2024
"John Dickinson and his silk thread paper/The Hungarian holocaust"

(No report or images available for this presentation)

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Members displays, 3rd October 2024
"Sheets, blocks, triptychs, se-tenants and tête-bêche"

There was no shortage of material on display. Seven of the twelve members present brought material on this topic.

Mike H. showed Lundy and lighthouses from Lundy, Estonia and France. In the second half he expanded his display with Germany and Croatia mainly with Lighthouses. Ken P. followed with sheets of Malta and GB. Also, a good amount of tête-bêche Machins. Alan K. had some of almost everything on the list with what he believed to be Sperati forgeries of Ceres stamps. Also, blocks of Australian GV Heads with varieties and some more recent Marianne designs. Other M/Ss were in the display including 1999 PHILEXFRANCE and the 1998 Antoine De Saint Exupery Le Petit Prince.

2nd half after Mike H. Michael M. displayed some colourful Machin complete sheets. Chairman David W. brought a fascinating display of USA material covering most of the list including bi-centenary triptychs from sheets and others from USA booklets. Wendy B. showed examples of stamps and paper shortages, including the complete 1918 sheet of stamps printed on the backs of German military maps. Finally, yours truly showed most of the list from around the world including Swiss tête-bêche pairs, vertical pairs and DDR sheets etc.

Lundy - Forged sheet with genuine block	Australia - GV block showing the RA joined variety

Malta - tête-bêche stamps

France - 1999 Philex	USA - Wildlife Conservation
Latvia - German stamp sheet	Switzerland - William Tell and his son

(Rick Wilmot)

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"Autumn Auction" - Members, 19th September 2024

There were 195 lots with 85 sold. 25 people attended, including the committee and visitors from other clubs.

Auctioneer, Tony Arnold, in full flow

(Rick Wilmot)

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"Stamp Fairs and Exhibitions" - Members, 5th September 2024

15 members and one guest came out on a wet evening, thanks to all.

 Five displays were put up for everyone to enjoy.

 Ken Parrott began with a display of early exhibition items through to the latest, and probably the last, Royal Mail Stampex Smiler Sheet. Lots of material from Malta together with the 1980 London Exhibition.

 Tony Arnold showed us lots of local items plus international exhibitions, Canada in particular. One cover which stood out (for me) had a cancellation by the Philatelic Music Circle. Tony spread out three frames of interesting material.

 Rick Wilmot displayed a stunning selection of 1970s Philatelic Exhibition Sheets from the former USSR.

 Wendy Buckle brought books, catalogues, and other material from international exhibitions. Interesting material.

 Finally, Michael Goodman showed many items from the USA. Especially the PACIFIC '97 exhibition which ran from May 29 to June 8, 1997 in San Francisco, California. Some very eye-catching material.

 (Rick Wilmot)

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"Railway Letter Stamps on cover" by Bill Pipe - 15th August 2024

Due to illness the Guest Speaker, Mr. Bill Pipe had to cancel. Emails were sent out to members asking for displays of their choice. Amazingly, ten members contributed to the evening with some remarkable displays.

Ken Parrott began with his display of Malta with pre-GB stamps followed by printed postcards, censor marks of forces post, Malta Railway and postman’s handstamps during the 1920s/30s.
Rick Wilmot showed a dozen or so pages of stamps commemorating the 20th anniversary of the World Health Organization worldwide.
David Wilkins displayed USA Airmails 1920-1930, Ethiopia air stamps 1949-1958 and the Latvia air triangle stamps.
Mike Mawdsley brought stamps of flora, fauna people and large animals.
Brian Snape showed something completely different; the history of British alphabet types.
Ray Saunders had a very impressive display of the complete worldwide series of the 1948 Silver Wedding and the complete Machin promotional 1994 Boots booklet panes.
Ted and Shirley Kemp had an exquisite show of 400th anniversary of Shakespeare.
Tony Arnold showed British commemorative air letters.
Mike Houchen had a superb display of the Lighthouses of Estonia.
Finally, Robin and Maxine Humphries showed some stamps of Tanzania and Maxine gave a short talk on the 20 years they had lived there.

So, once again, there is no shortage of interesting material when needed. Congratulations to everyone.

(Rick Wilmot)

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"Birds of the World" by Mr. Ted Kemp - 18th July 2024

There were 15 people in the audience including guests. The topic was Birds of the World with a display by Mr. Ted Kemp. Certainly, an amazing show covering birds from many countries around the world. Ted’s knowledge of the subject was second to none. Obviously, it isn’t possible to show all of the sheets here but collectors interested in ‘birds on stamps’ will know the numerous varieties of material available. The colours of the birds’ feathers are in themselves stunning. The collection was put together some years ago and it could be seen how many hours of work had been put in. So, well done, Ted, on a very enjoyable display.

David Wilkins, Chairman presenting Ted with the club certificate

(Rick Wilmot)

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Members Displays - Semi-postals, Charity and Health Stamps
4th July 2024

Fifteen members attended and five brought displays.

Ken Parrott’s display included Maltese charity surcharges which were used to support many different charities. Other items showed charity stamps from other countries.

Mike Houchen brought a good display of Lundy Red Cross stamps and other charity stamps.

Tony Arnold showed many charity stamps including Salvation Army and many New Zealand stamps.

David Wilkins' display came in two parts, both from Belgium showing charity and winter relief stamps from 1907-1935. Later stamps showed Queen Astrid,  known for her charitable efforts. She focused particularly on causes relating to women and children. Several stamps relating to Orval Abbey were part of the display.

Simon Adams brought New Zealand health stamps and an interesting envelope from 1945 Australia shown below.

During Tony Arnold’s talk, and unrelated to the topic, he produced an interesting magazine article from a 1989 magazine concerning a Poole Club activity.

Netherlands, Charity for handicapped children	Lundy, Red Cross	Isle of Man, Centenary of the Salvation Army

Belgium, WWI Red Cross	Belgium, Red Cross	Belgium, Queen Astrid

New Zealand, Health stamps	New Zealand, Health stamps	Australia, Safety First cachets, 1945

(Rick Wilmot)

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Members Displays - 6th June 2024

A members display evening replace the advertised speaker. 20 members and guests attended. 11 members brought material to show.

 First half.

 Mike H. began with Lighthouses in the English Channel esp. the 300th anniversary of the Casquets lighthouse off the coast of Alderney.
Ken P. showed items from Malta including postcards of Maltese buses and stamps commemorating 1942 battleships.
Michael M. showed Aden stamps with the change of currency/designs and States.
David W. showed stamps from pre - WWI Stamps o the Austro-Hungarian Empire and spoke about Franz Ferdinand.
Rick Wilmot had brought along a brief study of Czechoslovakian stamps from the 1930s.

Second half.

Wendy B. started with a study of Johannes Gutenberg. A fascinating story with stamps, special postmarks and other pictures.
Alan K. showed some oversized covers address to Stanley Gibbons from France. Also, a series of modern French booklets covering many topics.
Shirley K. had a display of three topics; Music, Golf and Europa. Five sheets on each topic.
Brian S. showed postcards of Hungarian ceramics. A very colourful selection.
Tony A. brought postcards with slogan cancellations about the early use of the telephone, and some Victory cancellations.
Finally, Simon A. showed some covers including a Silver Wedding stamp from 1948 on a cover dated 1951.

(Rick Wilmot)

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AGM, 16th May 2024

20 Members attended. The Chairman thanked Wendy (Secretary/Treasurer) for all her hard work over the previous year.
All reports were duly minuted, with the main points as follows:

Increase in sub from £10 to £15 due to increased cost of premises.
Mike Houchen standing down as V/Chairman, to be replaced by Tony Arnold.
All committee members re-elected unopposed.
The Annual Stamp Fair will take place on 7th September, 14 tables booked.

Next January, a competition workshop will be held at the Hamworthy Club. Poole, Ferndown and Ringwood clubs to participate.
Judging at Poole Club competitions will include Open Philately.

The Chairman thanked all for attending and closed the meeting at 2000hrs.

Following the AGM an auction took place for members only. Out of 107 lots only 32 sold making a small profit for the club.

(Rick Wilmot)

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"Guest" Rick Wilmot" with
Germany: the Occupation Zones and the DDR
2nd May 2024

John began with a brief history of the Zeppelin. A rigid airship named after the German inventor, Ferdinand von Zeppelin. He pioneered his invention at the beginning of the 20th century although the idea was first formulated in 1874 and developed in detail in 1893. In four short sessions, John showed us pictures of the Zep. as it developed, more info. on the development, postcards and covers flown on the airship.
Some seriously expensive covers were on show probably making collectors of this material a little envious.

The pictures (below) show the range of the material. Notes are also copied with the pics. A very interesting evening for aero-philatelists and postmark enthusiasts.

(Rick Wilmot)

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Thursday 4th April 2024
Second competition evening and awards - The Bill Way Shield

See previous report for details of winners etc. This evening gave the whole membership a chance to see, and vote on, all the entries resulting in winning the Bill Way Sheild.

Those who had entered the competition spoke on their own subjects.

The Awards and Trophies were distributed by the Chairman, David Wilkins.

The overall winner for his Thematic entry with ‘Fish on Stamps’ was Mr. Ted Kemp. Congratulations, Ted!

Tony Arnold ended the meeting with an article about changes in the Danish postal system.

Ted Kemp receiving his Award	Ted's Fish	Chairman & Treasurer with Trophies
Mike Goodman, USA	Tony Arnold, Saucy Postcards	Mike Houchen, Lundy
Simon Adams, Ceylon	Mike Houchen, Lighthouse	Ray Saunders, Army Uniforms

(Rick Wilmot)

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Thursday 21st March 2024
Brian Snape with "Éva Zombory"

Due to Bill Pipe being otherwise engaged we were lucky to have Brian Snape take over the evening with a talk and display on the work of Éva Zombory.

Éva Zombory was born in Czechoslovakia on December 13, 1927 and died in Budapest on August 9, 1998. She lived in Hungary most of her life and was employed as a graphic designer, stamp designer and was a Munkácsy Prize winner.

Between 1945 and 1947 she attended the medical faculty of Pázmány Péter University, and then between 1947 and 1948 she was a student at the Hungarian College of Applied Arts. From 1960 until her death, she was mainly involved in stamp design. She regularly received work from Magyar Posta to produce various occasional and stamp series.

She designed many themes including cats, vases, lace and even personalities. Between the 1960s and 1980s she designed the Stamp Day series of Hungary. She went on to have individual exhibitions between 1972 and 1996. Much of her work is on display in the Hungarian Stamp Museum, Budapest.

A very interesting evening, and many thanks to Brian for stepping in.

The photograph shows Éva working on a film with colleagues.

(Rick Wilmot)

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Thursday 7th March 2024
First Competition Evening

Green Cup for General Philately
1st	Mike Goodman		Two decades of computer-vended postage
Harry Parsons Shield for Postal History
1st	Rick Wilmot		Spanish Civil War
Thematic Cup
1st	Ted Kemp		Fish on stamps
2nd	Rick Wilmot		Bridges
3rd	Mike Houchen		First 100 years of the RNLI
Barry Proctor Cup for Picture Postcards
1st	Ray Saunders		British Army series
2nd	Mike Houchen		La Phare de Manche
3rd	Tony Arnold		Vintage postcards
4th	Tony Arnold		Postcard humour
John Hilton Trophy for Open Philately
1st	Mike Houchen		Lundy
2nd	Tony Arnold		First day covers
3rd	Mike Goodman		Brooks supports the world
Novice Trophy
1st	Simon Adams		Ceylon

(Wendy Buckle)

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Thursday 1st February 2024
Members Displays "Valentines"

The topic tonight was Members's Displays onthe subject of "Valentines; with 16 members present and 5 contributors.

ony Arnold began with showing some of Chris Wheeler's collection of Valentine material from the village 'Lover' near Salisbury. He followed this with colourful Valentine postcards, postmarks and stamps from the USA. Next up was Michael Mawdsley who gave a brief history of St. Valentine. His display consisted of manly GB varieties of stamps depicting Roses.

Alan King showed French stamps with perforated heart shapes, also some interesting French stamps of Fashion Houses. Then Mike Goodman also showed GB stamps and an interesting USA imprint. Tony returned with more very colourful postcards on the topic rounding off an interesting evening.

Valentines Day is Wednesday 14th February...don't forget your wife!

(Rick Wilmot)

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Thursday 18th January 2024
'Guest' Barry Hobbs - "Private mail carriers of South America"

The talk began with the early days of local stamps in Columbia. Private carriers were used but with difficulty communicating across the region due to the Andes. Lake Maracaibo played a large part in communication. The system survived until the 1933 when the government banned private stamps.

Red Cross stamps were used to raise money for the health service.

Covers displayed showed mixed franking of private stamps with stamps of Columbia and Brazil.

Charity labels appeared with the stamps on covers. Chamber of Commerce stamps were used for Public Improvement Societies.

Other countries mentioned were Chile which ran buses to provide postal services. Uruguay’s first stamps were private, over which the government had no control. Uruguay also used buses to carry mail.

The display wound up with Bolivia and Peru and a history of the lake steamers which were built with kits imported from other countries.

This was a very enjoyable evening with much detail, making a write-up difficult!

(Rick Wilmot)

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Thursday 7th December 2023
Members' Displays - Christmas

The theme of the members’ meeting was, for obvious reasons, ‘Christmas’ and it resulted in an impressive number of displays.
Ken Parrott started with a detailed look at GB issues – stamps (including one charity issue), FDCs, booklets and PHQ cards. He went on to his first love – Malta, with stamps and FDCs from 1964.
Mike Houchen showed stamps and booklets from Australia and (from 1957) Christmas Island.Alan King impressed everyone with a display of GB Christmas issues put together by his daughter as a school project when she was aged 8. Not only were they impeccably laid out, but she had (with no help) analysed the price rises year on year and drawn a bar chart to plot the changes. This was 1981, years before Excel.

Wendy Buckle showed illustrations of the story of the birth of Christ taken from medieval illuminated manuscripts. This focused on Gospel Books (literally, the Four Gospels) and the De Lisle Psalter, which has been the inspiration for stamp issues by GB, Dominica and the Cook Islands
Tony Arnold excelled himself with 7 frames in each half showing a plethora of themed covers from Europe and the Commonwealth. Impossible to list them, but of particular note were the Scout Post private posts, licensed for Christmas deliveries, some fun items from Lapland and covers cancelled in Bethlehem (Wales).
Mike Goodman wondered if King Charles might encourage the PO to issue stamps to commemorate all faiths’ seasonal celebrations. He illustrated his theme with USA stamps issued to celebrate Christmas as both a religious and secular festival. A curiosity was a letter written & stamp; franked by the self-styled Duke of Goat Wood, Somerset. The display rounded off by showing the “post-&-go” labels featuring a robin, which had been re-issued as a Christmas commemoration.
Cheryl Whitby showed a collection of Christmas Island (Indian Ocean) together with memorabilia of the atom bomb tests off Bikini Atoll in the 1950s.
David Wilkins put up pages from his West Germany collection, to show Germany’s first Christmas stamps in 1976 (complementary miniature sheets for West Berlin and West Germany). This theme was repeated in the next two years but after that issues were only of two complementary stamps, for the two parts of West Germany, and that for not every year up to the reunification of Germany.

A very diverse evening!

Christmas 2018 Brazil – 200 years of "Silent Night" song - Franz Gruber - Music

(Wendy Buckle and David Wilkins)

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Thursday 16th November 2023
Winter Auction

Poole Club had the Winter auction on 16th November. 25 buyers, sellers and watchers turned up. Nice to see some members from the Ferndown Club. The format, this time, was better items listed and sent to the secretary to be distributed. Members could also bring items on the night. This will be the system until further notice. Out of the 216 lots, 133 were sold. The next auction will be February 2024.

(Rick Wilmot)

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Thursday 2nd November 2023
Crest, Flags and Banners - Members

The six boards were full for both halves of the meeting. Taking part were, Ken Parrott, Mike Houchen, Michael Mawdsley, Tony Arnold, Brian Snape, Alan King, Mike Goodman.

Ken began with a display of topical material from around the world esp. Malta. Mike H. had brought some actual flags which was a great idea for the evening’s topic. He also showed stamps from Europe, Scandinavia, USA and UN. Mike M. Stamps of Australia, Canada, S. Africa, European Union and included Scouts and Guides with their flags and banners. Brian showed material from Hungary. He spoke about the cover of a Hungarian Rhapsody magazine from the RPS. The flag of the 1956 uprising, wartime posters and Communist flag waving on stamps were all in the display.

Tony had covered three boards with material including UN flags, crests of universities and colleges, other topical material from around the world. Alan showed a page of Western Australia black swan stamps, being an emblem of that part of the country. This was followed by the Canada Maple Leaf set of 1981. Also, stamps of the Arms of French towns, German occupation zones and the French Arms of Paris. Tony was back with another showing with more interesting material including postcards of maps of SE England with town crests. Finally, Mike G. showed Canada maple Leaves on stamps and lots of USA flag definitives winding up with the US flag on the moon in 1969.

All very fine displays!

Mike's Flags	Hungarian Rhapsody: 400 years of posttal history

Fresh fish from Great Yarmouth	Stamps and symbol of Hungarian workers

Part Dutch flag with Anne Frank	Canada Day, 1979

Kent coast with coat of arms	Old Glory

(Rick Wilmot)
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Thursday 19th October 2023
Guest Julian Jones with "Transatlantic Mail between USA and GB"

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Thursday 5th October 2023
"Postal Services - Members' Displays

The topic tonight was Postal Services. This covers almost everything in the philatelic world and the display boards were full for both periods of the meeting.
Ken P began with a display of R. letters, embossed covers, Malta FDCs and air letters.
Alan K. showed several stamps of Tasmania with various postmarks and told the story of the trains collecting mail bags whilst moving.
Michael G. had some fascinating U.S. material from ‘Dead Letter Offices’. He explained the system relating to unclaimed mail and said that there are approx. 20 million items still undeliverable as well as underpaid mail held for additional postage.
Tony A. showed many post cards of postal history in Portugal. Also methods of posting, transport, uniforms etc. This was followed with postcards of historical letter boxes.
After a break, Ken put up more Malta material.
Wendy B. spoke about the pre-payment for letters, beginning of stamps and Rowland Hill then the first Victorian stamps. She also showed some pages of Ray Brown’s story, ‘The Secret Lives of Stamps’. With some fascinating engravings on Canadian bank notes and stamps by Charles Heath. 
Michael M. showed a series of stamps from India depicting transport of post, TPO Dublin and the Bristol automatic sorting machine.
Tony A. rounded off the evening with some newspaper cuttings about philately and a page of Austrian and German postmarks.
All in all, an interesting evening.

USA, Return to sender	19th Century Portugese Mailcoach
Charles Heath, Engraver

British Fleet Mail	Tasmania Landscape	Canada Bank Note Co

(Rick Wilmot)

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Thursday 19th September 2023
Autumn Auction

The 21st September was the only auction this year without a list. Members brought an array of material amounting to 270 lots, 50% of which sold. Tony Arnold, our auctioneer, certainly had his work cut out and handled it all very well.

The next auction, with listed lots, will be held on 16th November
(Rick Wilmot)

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Saturday 9th September 2023
A message from our Chairman Mr. David Wilkins

“A big thank you to everyone who came along to the Fair to support the Club & help with the many jobs that such an event demands.  We were pleased at the steady flow of visitors all morning, despite the heat & all the dealers we were expecting supported us, bar only one, who had a problem. 

Given the covid-driven break in the Fair's usual annual routine & the disruption to clubs’ activities throughout the country, this was a good outcome with dealers generally reporting satisfactory sales.  Wendy & Cheryl were stalwarts in the kitchen and tea & cake sales & the raffle will help the overall financial position for your Club; thank you to all those who donated raffle prizes.

As young Mr Grace would have said:  "Well done, everybody; you've all done very well!"

Paula and Philip Cant of Paula Cant Stamps won first prize in the "dealer raffle": each dealer was allocated one raffle prize (at no cost to the dealer) for a special dealer-only raffle.

(Fair Organiser, David Morris with Raffle First Prize Dealers Paula and Philip Cant)

(Rick Wilmot)

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Thursday 7th September 2023
Members' Displays:- "Agriculture and Horticulture"

Ken P. began with a display of mainly flowers from G.B., Malta and Tuvalu showing orchids and commemorative stamps of Kew Gardens.
Mike H. followed with Austria, Australia, Channel Islands flowers through the years. Mike mentioned Lily Langtry aka Jersey Lily named after the symbol of Jersey, one of the Channel Islands.
Tony A. took over four of the boards with a fine display of almost everything to do with the topic from countries around the world.
Brian S. showed several postcards on Agriculture in 19th century Hungary. Fascinating pictures of farming, shepherds, harvests, windmills, and watermills.
Alan K. also showed agriculture in Hungary with the original Harvest series followed by many stamps of France depicting the Sower and the different designs of the stamp and the many overprints of this issue.
Rick W. showed a mixture of material from around the world including Russian and DDR agriculture cards. Also, DDR stamps showing medicinal plants.
Last, but not least we had a welcome guest, Ms. Morva White, who did a display on the development of religion on the Falkland Islands from the time the French arrived in 1764, through the Spanish period and the British occupation from 1833 until the present time. A fascinating journey with much information backed up with pictures and stamps. Many thanks, Morva.

Postcard of Hungarian Agricultural Workers	1916 Agricultural definitive from Hungary

The Sower from the Philatelic Exhibition in Strasburg 1927

Potato Planting in Jersey	Fertilize fields with peat and increase harvests. 1930s USSR card

Medicinal plants from the DDR

(Rick Wilmot)

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Thursday 17th August 2023
"Guest", Mike Goodman - "United States of America 1851 - 2011"

Thursday 3rd August 2023
Members' Displays - "Holidays"

The meeting opened with Mike Houchen in the Chair.

The topic for the evening was ‘Holidays’.

Ken P. began with stamps showing Deck Chairs, Donkey Rides, Cruises, Flights etc.
Mike H. had a display including holidays in Lighthouses, postcards from the Scilly Isles and railways.
Alan K. showed many stamps of France including Chateaux, Gastronomic, Holiday sports, surfing etc. and pictures of Mermaids.
Brian S. spoke about Hungary being a land-locked country therefore not much in the way of holidays. Hungary was the destination of many people from the GDR who took holidays in Hungary. Nevertheless Brian showed some interesting material including a special postmark for the 100th anniversary of the birth of Ronald Reagan.
Tony A. showed stamps and postcards of Trams from around the UK.
Michael M. had a display of postcards from places he had visited including Jo’burg, Germany, Madiera, Luxemburg and various other holiday destinations.
Finally, Wendy B. showed material collected from her visit to the World Stamp Exhibition in New York, 2016. Lots of interesting items.

(Rick Wilmot)

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Thursday 20th July 2023
Guest Ted Kemp - "Turkey"

Smaller auction than usual but with the commission, raffle and items sold for club funds, £88.60 was raised for the club. The next auction on 21st September will be an informal auction. Bring your items for sale along and label them e.g. RW1, RW2 RW3 etc.

(Rick Wilmot)

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